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Corona Devo 3112

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Have you ever ordered a "sampler plate" while out to dinner at a restaurant?  If it is a sampler plate of appetizers, it might include potato skins, mozzarella sticks, and wings...all of the most popular flavor offerings, but a small (sample!) portion of each, rather than a full order: a sampler plate . A sampler supper-plate at a German restaurant might include some weiner schnitzel, some bratwurst, some spaetzle, some red cabbage, and a potato pancake.  The top dishes on the menu, but in a smaller/sample/taster/preview portion size. Sampler plates are a great way to get a taste  of all the best things that a restaurant offers.   ~~~ I feel like this past week I have had a "sampler plate" of God's goodness and promised restoration.   The book of Amos in the Bible speaks of the waywardness of God's people, and it is Amos 's call to speak discipline and consequence into God's people because of their sin which has drawn them away from the Lord and H...

Corona Devo 3111

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D ear Struggler, I am not sure where you are with your relationship with Jesus at this point.    You may have anger for the Lord/a mountain of “why’s”/ or bitterness.   I can relate to all of those.   And the Lord can take all of those feelings. I do not have the understanding (this side of Heaven) to understand the “why” of our struggles here on earth.   But I have wonderful news for you—God says that even during difficult times (and He doesn’t say “ if hard times come”, He says “ when ” difficult times come) He is with us (walks with us through them, and protects us!), and He has overcome our struggles (by dying on the cross and making a way for us to join Him in Heaven, if we submit to Him and give ourselves over to Him). I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.  ~ John 16:33 The Lord has put this Chapter on my heart for you: ...

Corona Devo 3110

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It just depends on the (spiritual) situation... Sometimes we are struck humble, and meek, and we bow (in word, attitude and spirit) before the Lord Almighty.   He is holy!  And our words to Him or about Him must be subservient to His power and authority and holiness. Yes, sometimes we come meekly. But, it depends on the spiritual situation.   Sometimes  we cannot stop  the words and their vigor from our lips, when the Lord has stirred our spirit to speak on His behalf.   He is holy!  And our words to Him or about Him are sometimes charged with  His  power and authority.  At times, the Lord will give His Word to be spoken, and  look out  if we are the bearers!   Those speaking for the Lord Almighty will carry a severity and authority to their words that is not their own.   And  we will know it  when we hear it (or speak it).   ~~~ Amos was a regular guy, by his own admi...

Corona Devo 3109

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Are we down there today... in the depths ? Despair  finds us.  We do not seek it, and yet worry rises until it becomes spiritually suffocating.   Pain progresses until it places us in a tunnel with no light at the end of it.   Loneliness covers us with lies of worthlessness.   And fear produces an alter-reality where worst-case-scenarios fester and grow until they tower over and control us. Are we down there today... in the  depths ? From those depths  we can call to the Lord for help today. (Even) from the depths  we CAN count on the Lord  today. While we are still in the depths we can hope in God's  word  today. Psalm 130 (1) From the depths of despair, O   Lord ,  I call for your help.  ( 2)  Hear my cry, O Lord.   Pay attention to my prayer.  ( 3)  Lord , if you kept a record of our sins,  who, O Lord, could ever survive?  ( 4)  But you offer forgiveness,...

Corona Devo 3108

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Some things we are ready for, but some things...we didn't see coming. Like the meteor that fell from the sky and (thankfully) disintegrated before touching down...a few miles from where I live.   My Nation, my state, my county, my city, and even my section  of the city is where a six-foot, 17,000 pound meteorite almost  touched down the other day.   A meteor of that size shooting down from the sky is rare, and I didn't see that coming. Turns out, no one else did either.  Not the meteorologists, not the NASA engineers, no one was aware or on-the-look-out, or even watching for this (huge) meteorite, but a few people and cams caught it on display as the fiery ball flashed its way towards earth, finalizing its fizzle over the fields of our city and county.   I didn't see that coming. A meteor , we wouldn't really be ready for, and we are not expected to be.   But Jesus Christ is coming back...we cannot be caught off guard for that one....